Whatever McGill Can Do I Will Do Better
by Beowulf the Novelborn
Summary: Nero is the trouble-sought son of the legendary survivalist, Craig McGill, and the young man's most recent antics have landed him in both an unplanned trip for Alterra, and smack dab in the middle of a romance with the ship's Lieutenant. However, when the Aurora crashes his new life, the wildlife of Planet 4546-B has to learn the hard way that you can't keep a McGill down for long.
1. Chapter 1: Bet on McGill

Chapter 1: Bet on McGill

"All impact Prawn operators prepare to take defensive position on the upper rear port side. This is a Code KT."

Alarms rang across the Aurora and people began to rush around at the sound of the announcement.

"Asteroids?!" one of the pilots growled as he dashed to his station.

"From behind too", another said, "Makes you wonder what even shot it our way in the first place."

"Ask questions when we're in the clear!" The first barked as they jumped into their Prawns and into the airlock. The door shut behind them and the air hissed out of the chamber.

"This is Jane Stalward accompanying the Hull Repair Engineers. All units are now in place. Requesting permission to disembark", a very young woman said from one of the prawns.

"This is command. Permission granted under one condition", one of the members on the bridge replied, "You watch your asses out there and keep your eyes on the sky for any other surprises. It's not just the equipment we need back here in one piece you know."

"Oh please", another pilot laughed, "You're just hoping that the shower doesn't smash her before you ca **AAAN!** " He screamed suddenly as Laura blasted the Prawn in the cockpit with a claw mounted Propulsion Cannon, making it spin out into the wall of the chamber. When he hit the wall, you couldn't hear the impact in any way but a light rumble through the feet of the Prawn. The chamber was almost a vacuum now.

"Hey shut up", Jane barked as she whirred up her drill arm, "I will seriously take you apart and throw you into the storm!"

"Hey! Don't get salty because someone's looking to bed you, and he's not the only one."

"Lieutenant," Jane growled, "Could you please mute the bastard for me? Lieutenant?"

There was a brief silence before someone else popped back on the com.

"Apologies. The Lieutenant abruptly requested a swap in the con for some reason."

 _What the actual hell?_ she thought.

"Aurora has reached safest possible speed to engage", the man on the com replied, "It's still not fast enough to match the target's speed. If we spent any more time accelerating, we'd make contact before we can deploy you, so you'll have to act fast. Try and redirect them if possible." The gate opened up to the outside. An alien sun shined in on them, thankfully shaded by the Prawn visors and they all stepped outside. The star was easily blinding out the sight of any other stellar bodies, but it was still a beautiful sight nonetheless. The Prawns stuck to the hull of the Aurora thanks to artificial gravity simulators in the feet of each, similar to that of the propulsion cannon.

"Alright, perfect spotting conditions", Jane nodded, looking out at their surroundings, "With the star on the starboard side, we should be able to easily spot any oncoming debris from the direction they're coming from." Sure enough, as they turned around, the sunlight illuminated a multitude of rusty metallic specks off in the distance above them. The debris wasn't exactly coming at them from behind per say, but was on a collision course with that side of the ship. Of course, speeding up or slowing down any more than they already had moments before would waste fuel and momentum needed to maintain their trajectory. It was a job that the Prawn crew should be able to finish up.

"Prepare for impact. Activate hull reinforcement!" Jane ordered as the first space rock came into range and she wound up a punch that easily shattered it. It was just like the guide said, controlling the suits did give one the sense of limitless power.

And so the other Prawns followed suit. Some utilized their grappling arms to swing oncoming asteroids into the abyss. others used propulsion cannons to grab and fire rocks into others, shattering both in the process. It was actually rather fun.

"Attention all Prawns", control called in, "New mission. Our long range scanners have picked up abundant traces of raw materials that we can utilize on the go. If possible, try to capture any further asteroids you can and bring them back to the airlock for further processing."

"Seriously?!" Jane replied, "You wait to tell me this now?! Mining isn't my department like these guys! I don't possess clearance."

"Your job is to provide support and protect the engineers. That's part of why you were accompanying a new department for this one", control corrected.

Lights blared from the airlock, and the void may have silenced any sirens.

"The hell is going on down there?" control questioned, "We have unauthorized Airlock access!"

"But there aren't anymore Prawns!" another engineer exclaimed, "You mean to say that someone's coming out unguarded?!"

"Sure seems that way", Jane narrowed her eyes, "Who'd be crazy enough to do that?" Then out of the airlock stepped a single human. He was wearing a reinforced dive suit which apparently had been modified into a makeshift pressurized space suit. His boots were apparently equipped with mechanisms similar to the ones that let the Prawns walk on the surface of the Aurora instead of floating away.

"Oh no, it's McGill", one of the engineers groaned.

"Wait, you don't mean-", Jane was about to say more but an asteroid smashed into her Prawn and sent her tumbling away. She wasn't equipped with a graplling arm.

"Don't worry! We got you!" another pilot said, but the one named McGill was already sprinting forward. In a mere moment's thought, he locked four (yes four) of the dive reels at his belt to the ship and launched himself after the Prawn when he deactivated his gravity tether. He made a motion to Jane, one that looked like he was shooting a gun, and Jane instantly got the idea and pulled him in with the propulsion cannon.

"What the hell do you think you're doing out here?!" she barked at him, but before she could react, McGill had slipped from her grasp, locked the other end of a reel to her and watched as she was yanked back down to the ship's hull, Prawn suit and all. Before he got out of range, the boy locked three remaining ship locked reels to the asteroid itself, about the size of a pickup truck, and the last reel to the asteroid connected to his belt.

"Captain!" Jane picked up her bearings again, now worrying for the one named McGill, "We have to do something!"

"Don't bother", the man at control said with a growl, "I don't condone his actions, but I've learned the hard way who that boy is."

Just like that the Asteroid was snagged by the reels and stopped in its tracks. The boy was thrown from the rock by the impact, but his last reel slowed his freefall to a stop. He sighed with relief before he casually reeled himself back to the rock, then activated the other three reels, which pulled the asteroid and himself back to the ship, safe and sound.

"Uh...quick! everybody secure the asteroid!" Jane said, a little bewildered by the quick thinking of the one named McGill, "Captain, that name...you don't actually mean that Craig McGill himself was on the crew this whole time, do you?!"

"No, but you're close", the Captain replied as McGill and the other Prawns stepped back into the airlock with the asteroid. Air seeped back in and Jane's savior removed his mask after he collected his borrowed tools.

He was a young man of probably 19 or 20 years of age, about the same age as Jane. His skin was light and his cheekbones were sharp enough to cut glass. His hair was long, shoulder length, and his eyes were a brilliant shade of violet. He was 5'11" and was slim but athletic, like he did little escapades like that one on a regular basis.

"That boy is Craig's son, Nero McGill", the captain told her, "Not an official crew member and by far the most boneheaded SOB I've ever encountered at Alterra. But there's no denying that he's living up to everything Craig has set the bar for."

"Really?" Jane said under her breath, impressed by what that boy had to offer. She would have thanked him right there, but Nero had already slipped away without a word and disappeared.

Now she was interested.

.

I was back in my room in moments. I didn't want to spend much more time around the rest of the Alterra crew. I needed to clear my head.

I removed my makeshift spacesuit and stood in my room wearing the standard issue jumpsuit, skintight. Everything was locked safely into place inside my room, and with a deep breath, I hit a button on my suit and gravity disabled exclusively for my chamber. I alone slowly lifted off the ground and the window wall opened up to show open space. I was in the sweet spot on the hull that had sunlight, but also allowed me to see the stars, other planets, and nebulae in their full untarnished glory. To complete that feel, I turned on some music. It was female voiced, and it seemed to echo softly across the cosmos out my window. It was a type of song from Earth's Medieval Period, roughly a thousand years before man even left planet Earth to colonize space, and it somehow fit the setting incredibly well. The song was called _O Rubor Sanguinis_ by Hildegard von Bingen, but was performed by Sequentia, if the records are correct.

I took a deep breath and let myself go limp, floating with a set fitting atmosphere about my room.

What was I doing here? _Why_ was I here? I didn't care for this.

Well, I suppose the answers to those are obvious at this point. My name is Nero McGill. Everyone in the shipping and exploring life knew that last name too well. Craig McGill was the ideal astronaut in the eyes of Alterra, what the company wanted all of their crew members to strive to be. We all knew how he lasted for months at a time on a swamp world and beyond with chances of survival dwindling in the single digits. He was the highest paid officer in the entire federation at this point.

And he just so happened to be my father.

You can imagine that being born to the Galaxy's ideal survivor-man would lead a boy to the life you'd always want, but that wasn't quite the case fir me. I didn't exactly get any limelight myself, but everyone who did know me had high expectations, like the bar my father had set before I was ever born. Of course I didn't like it so much. I didn't seek out adventure like my father had after his first escapade. Trouble just seemed to find me, like his bloodline was cursed with that sort of impossible good/bad luck.

Of course, I didn't exactly agree with the federation. I really wanted little to do with that. Of course that little curse of mine always made me wind up in the wrong places at the wrong times, but I was lucky enough to find a way to either get out or adapt, so everything I had learned was almost entirely self taught, mostly out of self-preservation. In fact, what landed me on this ship in the first place was an incident with the mob or some street gang back on Earth, my home. I was chased out into Alterra property, and in that desperate attempt to get out alive I wound up taking out a good number of paranoid guards using makeshift tools, my bare hands, and raw street smarts.

Naturally, that didn't turn out well at first. Sure the guys who chased me were caught and all thanks to my info, but the moment they pulled up my ID, they had found a better use of me than turning me into the police for assault and trespassing. Instead of that, they covered up the details and told my father that I had signed up for an exploration mission, one that would aid in the construction of a new phasegate on a distant planet. My father was pleased with the news to say the least. I was even given an experimental neural implant that had access to an interactive HUD control system, so they used me something like a guinea pig. But thankfully it seemed to work just fine.

So there I was, three months into what would be an eleven month voyage. A one way trip with a speedy return once the phasegate was active and calibrated. I had decided to remain somewhat reclusive for the time being, since I didn't want too many people to smother the son of a celebrity with questions. The previous event with the asteroids was the first time I actually showed up in front of some of the crew.

Why? Simply because I was bored. Not much happened on this ship, and for once, like my father always did, I wanted a piece of the action. Not to mention that it gave me the chance to use that implant for once. Of course now the crew had seen what I was capable of and I would eventually be forced to do jobs that I never intended on doing, probably out of punishment for acting alone. Then again, some of the crew who was less knowledgeable of the details would put me on more dangerous jobs because I might be of value.

But on that particular day (although really, days and nights are relative to sleep schedule when in space), my display had brought about a very different surprise. It was something that my street smarts and quick wits had not once prepped me for.

While my music played and I floated around with my eyes closed, basically in a trance, I hadn't noticed the knocking at the door or the sound of the key card click, or the door opening.

I floated for a few more moments in silence other than the song in the background.

"You done?"

"Spetz!" I cursed. My eyes snapped open and in a panic I pushed off of the wall near my feet and propelled myself back to "land" with my hands and feet on the window wall, and I stuck there.

I looked "up" to the main door to see an officer in a space suit leaning against the door. Clearly it was a she with those curves. Since she was still technically out in the hall, she was still bound to the artificial gravity of the ship.

 _If she has an all access card like that, she has to be a higher ranking officer, right?_

"I am now", I said switching off the music, but I kept zero gravity on.

"You know, you should probably lower your music's volume", she said, "No noise complaints, but it would be helpful to know when someone of interest is trying to meet with you."

"I wanted some time to think", I replied, lowering my guard just a little.

The officer took a slow step inside and inched forward once she entered zero gravity.

"As an officer, a Lieutenant," she began to unseal her armor plating, "I should reprimand you for such a dangerous act, endangering Alterra equipment and lives, including your own, without orders or authorization to act on your own."

"I don't take orders well from anyone", I replied with a raised eyebrow, getting the odd sense that this was going in a different direction.

"But, not as a Lieutenant, I won't", as she said this, the light armor plating that covered her legs peeled off automatically, drifting off to other corners of the room, "In fact I'm actually here to say thank you."

Admittedly, my attention was drawn in more by what was beneath that armor. She was wearing a jumpsuit a little similar to mine. Black with neon blue highlights, But hers was even more skintight. So when the armor peeled, the suit hugged her figure so tight that you would have sworn that you were looking at bare skin (had the coloration been different). Her legs were long, athletic and needless to say she had a nice ass too, but I didn't dare say that for my sake.

"Thank me?" I asked, "And I don't suppose that you were..."

"In the Prawn you saved, yes", she nodded as the light armor on her torso peeled away too. Again I was greeted by a lovely sight. She was rather well endowed, but perfectly rounded and shapely too, and I got the strange feeling that wasn't the work of the suit. Still it did show every curve she had, and I do mean _every_ curve, but now I got the sense of where she was going.

"So you here to lure me into further Alterra assignments?" I asked, still wary of some ulterior motive.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said no", she shrugged, "You do have potential. Not a day of training and you already have more guts than anyone else I've seen on this crew. Not to mention your father. We could use someone like that."

She finally reached me and we both stuck to the window, me "lying down" against the window and her laying on top.

"Of course, this isn't a business proposition. And right now I'm not Lieutenant."

" **Attention** **: Increased heart rate detected. It is recommended that-*** ", the AI connected to my vital monitoring system cut in, only to be silenced by me. My face was red now, and if the officer didn't already see through my facade, she definitely could now thanks to that AI.

"Then if you aren't Lieutenant now, who are you?" I asked, still trying to maintain that mask, albeit unsuccessfully and I carefully pulled away her helmet to complete the picture.

The officer was my age by the looks of her, her skin was well tanned and flawlessly smooth, and her long platinum blonde hair spilled out of the helmet behind her, though it was neatly suspended in zero gravity. Her eyes were silver, like earth's moon, and they had a spectacular shine.

And my heart rate shot through the roof.

"Jane", she said leaning into a kiss, but before anything else could happen, she clicked onto _my_ hud and remotely shut and locked the door.

Yep, that's my luck.

(End of Chapter 1)

* * *

Greetings earthlings! Wulf here after the longest hiatusof my writing career!

So, as of late I've really gotten into the lore of Subnautica, and only recently did I decide to make a story. Lucky for me, Subnautica only has like fifty stories at the moment, so it should be easier to find this one. Then again, that might also mean that not many really chack this corner of FanFiction, but here's to hoping!

Anyone who's played Subnautica and has actually built the Stasis Rifle likely remembers the quote about Craig McGill's survival in a worst case scenario. I got the odd sense that he might play a bit more importance in the story. In fact, it's possible that the player in game might be Craig himself. Regardless of whether or not he actually was of greater plot relevance, I figured he deserved some more credit here.

To anyone here who has previously and eagerly followed Wings of Remnant, I apologize for not posting there yet. The latest volumes of RWBY have thrown a wrench into the lore, and I have to rework some things before I continue there. It won't be too much longer, I promise.

In the meantime, if you like what you see, **blast that follow/favorite button into oblivion!** (Damn I missed saying that! XD)

This is Beowulf and the OC Crew signing out!


	2. Chapter 2: Brace for Impact

Chapter 2: Brace for Impact

We were now nearly thirteen months into the trip, and we had only one last thing to do before we reached our destination. Evidently there were rumors leaked to the crew that we were taking a detour to slingshot around an unexplored world labeled Planet 4546B. It was entirely ocean save for some volcanic islands, according to the long range scans at least. Why exactly this was part of the plan was beyond me. This was the edge of explored space, and many small ships had been lost to the void beyond this point.

This was space's equivalent to the Bermuda Triangle.

I looked out the window to see a tiny blue twinkle that shone out among the stars, the planet in question. It looked a lot like Earth, and given the conditions, it seemed to me that preexisting life on that planet was a little too likely. Federal space explorers have not once come across a planet with liquid water, an atmosphere, and such a strong magnetosphere that hasn't housed some type of organism.

Of course it just hit me, why 4546B? A rare oasis in the blackness of space that could serve as a home for humanity and they designate it with a serial number. Why not give it a name like the planets in Earth's solar system? More importantly, why hadn't we already set up a colony or at least a lunar outpost? It certainly seemed like the ideal place to set one.

So why did I have this ominous feeling that we were being watched? Me specifically.

Then again I _was_ being watched.

Okay, so a lot had transpired in the last ten months that I should probably mention. I'll be honest, when I first met Jane Stalward, I was convinced that the lovely lieutenant was just trying to rope me into staying with Alterra, that this fling wouldn't last for too long. I was suspicious at first. But Jane stuck around, and after about a month of more jobs on the ship and Jane still hanging around, l began to see that she was looking for something more serious. Perhaps she was grateful for me saving her life back in that asteroid encounter, _very_ thankful. And she hadn't brought up me sticking with Alterra after this, so that might be something.

So about a month and a half later, as though she knew I realized all of that, she starts showing up by my room wearing nothing but that skintight spacesuit, like the first time. She'd follow me around whenever she had the chance, and I have to admit that I warmed up to her. It was about two months later (five months into the mission) we had begun to hold hands in the hall and news of this pairing spread through the crew faster than wildfire. From that point things continued on casually. We'd hang out, go on a few jobs together, and whatnot. Unlike the very start, we hadn't taken the direct route and just had fun, and we both liked it.

Then there was today.

After my last job on the hull of the Aurora, I had decided to return to my quarters and clean up. But when I opened my door, someone had already beaten me to the decontamination shower. The bathroom door was deliberately left wide open with a familiar jumpsuit lazily tossed on the floor on the way to the door. I only saw for a split second what was inside.

The glass shower box was fogged up so I couldn't see clearly, but I definitely saw the curves of the lieutenant herself. The water, suds, her hair, everything was in zero gravity in there in a spectacular display to say the...

 _Wait a minute!_ I snapped myself out of that daze and tried to act like a gentleman, not a pervert. So I tried to slip away and let her finish. I was terrible at starting this sort of thing anyway.

"Welcome back, Gill", Jane cooed, knowing full well that I could vaguely see her. No question, she deliberately set that up for me to see.

"You're a little comfortable all of a sudden", I tried to say calmly to play this out.

" **Attention** **: Increased heart rate detected-*"** And sure enough, the AI connected to my suit blew my cover once again, just like that first encounter. I silenced it with a mad blush on my face, but again it was telling the truth.

So many questions ran through my mind. As far as we've been dating this sudden surprise was an alarming leap. In fact I still hadn't seen her outside of that jumpsuit even once (Yeah that's right. Go ahead and laugh, I dare you). But it left me boggled nonetheless, and it left me wondering what on earth (or beyond earth for that matter) could have brought this out of absolutely nowhere. Why the hell wasn't there a gradual lead up?

"Still nervous as before, lover boy", she laughed happily, spinning herself into a slow backflip in zero g, again providing a stunning view.

"Well, yeah, who wouldn't be with someone pulling a shower surprise", I said trying unsuccessfully to hide those emotions, "This isn't like you."

"So I take it you don't want to join me then~?" she giggled but sighed as a timer went off, which she snoozed, "But you did catch me at the end of the shower." She reached a hand out of the box to grab a small back beside her and pulled out some light clothes, and a cool blast of air dried her off and slowly cleared the fog. I looked away before it revealed anything (It's called respect and self control boys. Time some people learned it).

A few moments later, she stepped out of the bathroom. All she wore was a pair of short skintight black pants a royal blue tank top of sorts that appeared to have trouble holding her assets in. Both were skintight like the jumpsuit, probably the same material too, and it left her stomach long legs, and a little cleavage exposed. And to top it off, that platinum blonde mane of hair was tied back in a ponytail.

She could not have possibly been more casually dressed and it was the first time I had ever seen her with a that much skin exposed. Was today some special occasion or something?

It took me a moment to realize that I was staring, and I politely looked her in the eyes instead of everywhere else.

"Come on Gill", she leaned up against me, "You can look. I told you that a thousand times."

"I know, but this is a little overwhelming I looked down into her eyes and with a giggle, she tackled me to the bed with her on top.

"It's been ten months", she raised an eyebrow, "I mean you should have expected this at some point, lead up or not. It's not like _you_ Mr. Prepared for everything."

 _Well, she has me there._

"So then," I asked, making myself comfortable, "what's the occasion? No wait, it's your birthday coming up soon, isn't it?"

Surprisingly enough, her smile drooped a little at the mention of that. Not once during our time together had she even brought up her birthday, and my answer was a complete guess.

"Yep, you guessed it", she smiled again, rested her weight on me, and leaned in to nibble the side of my neck. Romantic yes, and that squish on my chest certainly left a good view, but there was something else in her actions that drew my attention away from the romantic bits.

For just a second before she smiled I swear I saw a sorrowful look in her eyes, masked again by that smile and her going for my neck instead of the lips where I could have seen it better.

But I saw it clearly, and it left me feeling worried. She was a Lieutenant, fearless in the face of danger and unshakable by any means. So what could have shaken her so much that she'd be faltering now? Come to think of it, she might have tried to warm up to me in such a provocative manner because she needed comfort but didn't want me to worry. I could have been completely reading it wrong, but perhaps this would be a good time to follow suit and play by that game. So in the meantime it ran my fingers through her hair and held her upper thigh. And only after that did she warm up into the kiss on the lips. Funny how time seems to stop in the middle of a kiss. It's weird.

Looking back on everything, it makes me glad that I had that moment to savor for so seemingly long.

After a few moments of snuggling, Jane's expression drooped as her gaze fell on the planet we were approaching. It was much closer now, significantly closer. In fact I'm pretty sure we had entered orbit at this point.

What the hell did the planet have to do with the sudden mood change?

"Nero...", she muttered. She never called me Nero nowadays, not since our first night together, "If it's alright...could I ask you something?"

"Um, other than that question, sure", I said holding her closer, trying to cheer her up, she grasped the hand that I ran through her hair and I could feel her hand trembling. Little red flags going up. Something was seriously wrong. This wasn't just dread or sorrow, this was _fear_ I was sensing from her. Her suit's connected AI would have definitely pointed that out had she been wearing it.

"Since we first were informed on that planet, two days ago", she asked calmly looking out the window, "You haven't had any...strange dreams, have you? Voices in your head?"

What an odd question to ask. That wasn't at all where I thought she was going.

"No, should I?" I questioned, now very much intrigued, "What sort of dreams or voices?"

"I had a dream that I was drowning down there", she motioned to that ocean a couple thousand miles beneath us, "It would last forever and I wouldn't stay down, all the time hearing some woman's voice begging 'Turn back', like her life depended on it. As a matter of fact I think I still hear it", she shook her head, "Not sure if I'm going crazy or not."

That was a new one, but I knew how to cheer her up.

"To be fair, we're all a little crazy. You were straight up crazy enough to surprise me in the shower and I was crazy enough to run a rescue mission without a Prawn suit ten months ago", I pulled her leg closer by the upper thigh, "So it's a nightmare. No biggy."

"It's not that simple", she smiled weakly, "I mean...do you know why we're passing by this planet? I need to come clean on a few things...*!"

I never got the chance to reply.

A green glow resonated somewhere out the window and all of a sudden a thunderous _**BOOM!**_ sounded throughout the entire ship. Jane screamed and held onto me, shivering in horror and I swear I could hear her mumbling "No, no, no, no!" under her breath.

"What the hell?!" I looked around, now on red alert. I reached my HUD and ordered, "What happened?! Run diagnostics of Aurora structural integrity!"

" **Calculating damage assessment** ", the AI tapped into the aurora's systems and pulled up a mental hologram for me. A massive hole the size of a six seated spacecraft had been punched a hole clean across the front side of the Aurora! " **Cause: unknown. Massive damages, including 29 casualties detected. 35 casualties."**

"An asteroid?! No, a meteor?!" I hissed, "It has to be!" And as soon as I said that, the sirens and alarms blared across the ship.

 **"Attention all crew and passengers."** the same AI said across the speakers, **"Hull integrity of the Aurora has been compromised. We advise all crew and passengers to take emergency measures and abandon ship via lifepod. Collision course with ocean planet, Designation: 4546B, imminent in T-minus 9 minutes. We advise lifepod ejection for optimal safe landing conditions in T-Minus 5 minutes. Repeat: All personnel prepare to abandon ship."**

Taking in all that information, I made a mental checklist of things do.

"Come on!" I said rolling Jane off of me and rushing for my duffel bag, "Get your suit on quick!"

It took Jane a moment to process what was happening before she nodded and rushed to fit into her jumpsuit and seal it. I had already put on my makeshift radsuit. It was originally a dive suit, so the place we would be landing was rather convenient. Next was a metal, lightweight backpack, which contained some basic supplies that I may or may not have borrowed to build my suit.

 **"The window for optimal conditions for ejection will be unavailable in T-minus 3 minutes. Planetary atmosphere breached ",** My suit's AI alerted me.

"Equip it all on the way there!" I barked and took Jane by the hand. The lifepods weren't far off so we had the time.

Or so I thought.

Turns out that after we started off down the hall, the ship lurched and took a slightly steeper dive. Inside of the ship, the artificial gravity generators had their control wrenched from them as everyone in the ship began to go into free fall. It would likely take a moment for the generators to make up for that, but that left Jane and I floating down the hall for just a moment with little control.

"Damn it!" I grunted as I pulled a dive reel out from my back and shot the anchor onto the ladder we were supposed to take, "Don't let go!" I said to Jane, only to look down to see her apparent physical condition. She was still very shaken to say the least.

"I...I..." she stuttered but never finished.

"Listen!", I barked reeling her in, "I don't know why you're scared but you need to step it up like the officer you are! You weren't shaken when you were nearly lost to the void of space on our first job together! At least down there we have a chance of surviving if we're stranded!" I handed her a dive reel, "Just trust me like you did when we first met."

She held the reel close to her heart, as though she were remembering something painful, but then she nodded as we glided down into the next hall. The ship lurched again and gravity returned, slamming both of us to the metal floor below.

I blacked out for a second, and when I regained consciousness there were fires about the chamber and another announcement was blaring.

" **Attention: atmospheric entry has delivered greater than estimated thermal damage to the Aurora's hull and exposed interior. Life pod launch chambers have sustained critical damage. Recommending immediate launch before existing damages intensify."**

Our time limit was up.

"Jane?" I asked getting up slowly. Jane had taken the fall at a different angle, and I think she may have hit the ladder hard on the way down. She was still alive, but was too weak to move herself.

At this section of the ship, only one life pod was left, Number 5, and the lauch chamber had been severely damaged. One more shock would likely send it tumbling out of the ship on its own. But it was our only way out.

"Don't you die on me", I muttered as I stumbled to pick her up and drag her over. She coughed up some blood before her eyes fluttered open behind the reinforced dive helmet.

"Hey Gill", she said with a weak smile.

"Don't worry, I got you. We're almost safe." I whispered. Her smile disappeared as she looked behind me to a repeated metal clashing noise and we reached the pod.

"Hey...can you promise me something?" she asked trying to get closer, "Just...one last time?" her other hand was clumsily pushing something on her own suit's AI command.

"Quit talking like that!", I opened the hatch and moved to lift her in, time running down to a few seconds more.

"If...you see her", she weakly took one of my dive reels, hooked it to my suit and shot the other end into the escape pod, "Tell her I said hi..."

"Wait what? No!" I screamed reaching for her hand, but it was too late.

It turned out that in even shorter a time that it would have taken to even lift her up to the hatch, another explosion from inside of the room and the lifepod shook loose and flew out into the void outside of the ship, but the dive reel made sure that I went out with it.

But that left Jane behind, and in that last split second, before she could attach her own line, I saw a smile on her face, one of mixed emotions. She seemed happy that I was safe, but I saw a look in her eyes, not a look of fear anymore. Rather, it was a look of acceptance, an acceptance of fate.

"JAAAAANE!" my voice cried out, unheard amidst the wind and the Aurora going down, "Dammit, no! Damn you!" The reel automatically pulled me into my seat and it clicked around me as I fought hopelessly, thinking in my mind at the time that I could still save her somehow. But it was just wishful thinking at this point. The pod rocked, supplies flew everywhere, and the last thing I remember beyond the sudden grief was a metal interior plate smacking me in the face and knocking me out cold.

And just like that, Jane was gone.

Yep. That's just my luck.

(End of Chapter 2)

* * *

Hello, everyone. Beowulf here.

Everyone who heard of the game knew this was coming. Honestly it was kind of a shame to do this to Nero, especially considering that the love of his life was on board. But it seems that the McGill family's unpredictable (mis)fortune has come back with a vengeance, and taken the Aurora with it. That apple fell a little too close to the tree.

In the meantime, if you like what you see, **blast that follow/favorite button harder than the Precursors blasted the Aurora!**

This is Beowulf, Nero, and the OC Crew, signing out!


	3. Chapter 3: A Not-So-Warm Welcome

Chapter 3: A Not-so-Warm Welcome

Black. All I could see for the longest time was pitch dark. It was cold, obviously I was underwater, way too far down for any sunlight to reach, and for all I knew, absolutely nothing for miles around, probably nothing for miles below me too for all I knew, and for better or for worse, the pressure wasn't crushing me, and neither was the lack of air choking me out

But for just a little bit, the weight of the past event just wasn't there. Nothing crossed my mind except the thoughts, "Where am I? Am I alone?" But in immediate hindsight, I knew I didn't want to know the answers to either one. Yet even with the lack of light…why did I feel like I was being watched? No, "watched" wasn't even close to what I felt was happening, there was something more at work. I felt like I was being mentally dissected and read, piece by piece. Even my own thoughts didn't feel safe.

What really threw me off was the sight of a humanoid form, a woman by the looks of her, form in what seemed to be some sort of bioluminescent plankton that suddenly appeared, and it was a very familiar form.

"Get out of my fucking head! Give her back!" I drew my knife and stabbed in the direction of the 'image', but behind that, the blade shattered against the shell of some creature hidden well in the darkness. A group of four glowing green eyes opened in the darkness in front of me. The mere touch was followed by a moment where my thoughts were scrambled, like whatever was reading me was suddenly flipping through pages in a book, or speed reading.

And suddenly it just stopped.

"…. _You...are...d_ _ifferent…."_ a faint thought, not my own, crossed through my head and the image of the woman turned to look at me, " _….survive…..please….",_ and just like that, before I could ask questions, the plankton lights and the eyes just vanished. Only now I felt completely alone.

"Wait! What do you-*", I was cut short as I found myself going into a fit of coughing, like I was finally suffocating under these waves. But why did it smell like smoke? Well, that's because that last bit wasn't part of my dream.

My eyes opened in real life, and I found myself back in my pod. My head still hurt from that metal cover that flew off the wall and left me down for the count. But the pain was set aside once I noticed that there was a fire in the escape pod. A few quick buttons press and a slammed fist later, the restraints opened and I wasted no time in grabbing an extinguisher from the floor and putting it out.

Already I was feeling light headed, from a lack of air, so once the fire was finally out completely, no hope for a spark, I rushed up the ladder and threw the hatch open to gasp for a crisp breath of salty ocean air and I flopped onto the roof of the pod. I didn't care about my surroundings for now. I had made it. I was alive by some miracle…..

No. That wasn't a miracle. If it had been a fucking miracle, Jane would have survived with me. If it was anything out of the ordinary, it was my family's dumb luck or curse for finding ourselves in situations like this. But curse or not, if it was real, it had just taken down an entire colonization crew, but felt oh so comedic enough to spare me for whatever horrors lie on this planet, and a potentially worsening sense of insanity. Let's be honest, if someone were going to rescue me, they'd likely meet the same fate as the Aurora's crew and I'd be back to square one…again.

" **….vor…Survivor?** "

By the time I came back to reality, the first thing that caught my attention was a computerized voice and a display was up on my HUD. The AI was still operational! At least my curse hadn't boned me over completely…..yet.

"Yes! I'm here!" I said picking up my PDA, which my AI fragment was housed in.

" **Greetings and great job not dying** ", her monotone voice said, " **To further assist you in emergency situations, you have been issued a Personal Data Assistant.** " It paused for a moment to link to my suit, " **Identified: Nero McGill. Minor PDA information has been added to your HUD display, including, but not limited to, sustenance calculations, recommended dive time, and biological integrity estimations. Biological data, inventory, and blueprints may be found on your PDA. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the user interface.** "

I was already mostly familiar. Jane was the one who showed me the details behind most of this stuff before my second outing outside the Aurora's hull, and that was several months ago. Thinking about everything that happened just made me sick to my stomach and made my headache worse. For sever minutes I just lay there trying to just forget about it all. But how could I?

" **Nero** "

"I'm sorry", I snapped out of it for a moment. Sitting up, "What was your designation again?"

" **I am designated as Iris** ", the program replied, " **Every crewmember is paired with a unique AI, but are only permitted to interact should life or death scenarios present themselves.** "

"Why only now?" I raised an eyebrow. Come to think of it, this particular AI was never in the vehicles or systems I've operated.

" **We were designed to fit the needs of a particular crewmember** ", she replied simply, " **For the moment, it is highly advised that you examine your surroundings.** "

Well, now that I think of it, I hadn't quite taken any time to actually take a look around. In the direction I had been facing this whole time, I saw nothing but ocean, obvious considering our view from space before. At first my initial thoughts were that the Aurora was more than likely on its way to the ocean floor by now, but as I turned around, I saw that such wasn't quite the case. Sure enough, there was the Aurora. Most of the ship appeared to be intact, and it seemed to have crashed into a massive sandbar. Evidently the waters around here must have been shallow and the ship was almost completely above the water by some miracle. But the front was damaged beyond any possible hope for repair.

" **Time from incident: T-plus eleven hours** ", Iris droned, " **Recap: during gravitational slingshot maneuver, the Aurora suffered catastrophic hull failure caused by an unknown external force/object. Numerous life pods have been ejected, however, no human life readings can be detected within a 200 meter radius.** "

"Could anyone have survived the crash itself?" I asked as my HUD and retinal display scanned the ship.

" **Possibly. Anyone fortunate enough to secure themselves with an armored Prawn Suit could potentially lessen the impact with one or more grapple arm attachments combined with a space grade thruster pack module. However, odds of many crew members reaching the Prawn deployment room are slim.** "

"Then I'll just have to find them", I said, preparing to dive in.

" **I would not advise it** ", Iris said. If a monotone voice of a machine could sound strict and commanding, that's what the light change in electric voice did, " **The blast in orbit struck close to the dark matter drive core. Current damage assessment of the drive core is still uncertain. However, potential radiation should be expected in surrounding areas. Continuing to monitor.** "

That left my options rather slim. Until I could somehow manage to at least get a good foothold on my own survival, rescuing anyone else was practically doomed to failure. I supposed that step one would be getting a lay of the land. The HUD display showed that I had landed in some shallow waters and a brief look from the surface alone showed short flashes of blinding colors, and there was movement all around me.

Well, I had to go down there at some point. No point in delaying it now.

So I ducked back into the pod and slowly opened the bottom hatch leading straight into the waters below, and at that last second I was thinking twice about this for just a moment. Then again, I had survived solar storms and asteroid fields out in space with nothing to hold me down before. How bad could this be? So I put on a pair of goggles, took a deep breath and plunged into the unknown blue.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes looked like the open maw of some giant fish and I nearly scrambled back to the pod, but it turned out to be a tube of what I assumed was some form of coral, easily larger than the escape pod itself, even big enough to fit several inside. That one tube was mostly buried, but extended to another opening about 100 meters away.

My sudden appearance startled a school of passing fish, arguably the strangest looking ones I've ever seen. Blue with sleek bodies and a massive yellow eye on both sides, and they tweeted like birds too for some reason. And as my eyes followed them, the school led my gaze to the rest of my surroundings. I had been diving on earth before, but this reef I had landed in was more colorful than anything that the motherworld could provide. So many marine alien plants and animals. Although, I suppose that _I_ was the only alien, they were just native here. But all of it prior to today was completely undisturbed. There was just something satisfying about the thought. There weren't too many sanctuaries like this one earth anymore.

Down below I could see numerous crystals and rock formations that seemed to glitter with metals inside, raw materials ripe for the picking. It would likely take some time to extract metals to be sure, especially since all I had at the moment was my bare hands. First instinct was to use rocks, but the matching stone would break just as easily and I'd lose my "tools" too fast, or I wouldn't be able to break either one. My second idea: the fire extinguisher, but accidentally breaking that would end up putting more than a few dents in _me_ if it ruptured and exploded.

Come to think of it, an explosion of any sort could potentially do the trick. Too bad the crew, to my knowledge at least, didn't carry them, or any blueprints for that matter.

" **Might I make a suggestion?** " Iris requested out of the blue when I surfaced, to which I nodded, " **Constructing a Spectroscopic Scanner would be a crucial tool for scouting out raw materials. Sufficient spare circuitry is stored aboard the Life Pod, as well as a fabricator to construct the tool from raw materials. Two pounds of titanium, a spare battery, and eight ounces of quartz crystals for glass should suffice. Limited surface scans detect an abundance of the latter in this particular area.** "

Made me wonder why I needed quartz specifically. I mean glass is made throuph melting _sand_ , right? There was plenty of that lying around. But then again, I heard that these fabricators were rather…..touchy to say the least. I'd never even seen one before, but I'd heard stories of unfortunate operators having their own hands accidentally deconstructed in these things. Perhaps it would be best if I just followed instructions for now and ask questions later.

Thankfully, quartz crystals were an easy find. Remember those stones I found on my first pass? That was them. Granted most of these things were in very small quantities, so I constantly had to keep looking for more. That meant several trips back to the surface and plenty more exhausting dives back down. But after the fifth time, I was so annoyed by this waste of energy that I finally found a proper loophole. Before I dove back down, I reached for my belt to grab one of the only tools I had at my disposal, the dive reel. Oh, my personal favorite and partner in crime for the past year in space was still here for me, and it brought a genuine smile to my face.

So, I aimed back to the floor with my first one and fired it, successfully connecting it to the stone beside a cave. But before I could reel myself in I heard a sharp sound that sounded like a hiss and a dog's bark as I startled something in that cave. Probably some small fish. I planted my second line a fair distance away to help me get away if needed, and I reeled in the first line to take a peek inside that cave. It seemed rather ordinary, but there definitely wasn't a fish I could have spooked. Though there was a strange, brown, dome-shaped plant of sorts in the corner.

First instinct: examine, and it's likely I would have if a brief flash of metal caught my eyes. I don't know why I didn't think of the possibility, but right in front of me was a small fragment of the Aurora itself, a few inches short of three feet long, sharp, and triangle shaped . And just like that, my tool problem just came one step closer to being resolved. I let the reels go slack and I immediately swam out to grab it. No way was I putting this in the fabricator; this was what I needed to break those rocks open.

So I went back to the cave entrance and began to chip away at the stone little by little, careful not to let my hands get cut on the edges. The pointed tip crushed the surface rather easily at first, but the sound, startled something in the cave as that bark sounded again. Seriously, what was that?

This time around that strange brown plant had opened itself up and a strange fish the size of a basketball burst out of the center. It had a single eye, was spiked, and colored a bright red. No mistaking that bark came from this creature, and an oddly similar gargling growl was rumbling from inside it, growing louder in pitch as it suddenly charged, putting a fairly ominous sense in my mind.

First thing that came to mind was to put the metal shrapnel between the creature an me like a shield, and it was just barely large enough to be one. Second instinct, reel myself in to dodge. The fish skidded off the makeshift shield and wound up running straight into that batch of stone I was trying to mine, and the most horrific thing I had witnessed from a living creature happened right there. With an ear-shattering **_KA-BLAM_** the poor fish exploded on impact with enough force to shove me back several feet into the stone wall. I ended up hitting my head and letting go of the metal, allowing me to passively float to the surface just in time for a breath of air. It took me a minute to come back to my senses, and thankfully Iris didn't have to resort to any electric shocks to wake me up again. There was a distinct smell in the air now, definitely sulfur, a highly reactive element, or for those of you not versed in chemistry, very much explosive.

 _Seriously! What the fuck made those fish evolve to do that?! And why had the creeper from Minecraft decided to follow me to this world?! Just…WHY?!_

I regained my bearings again, making a mental note to avoid those plants at all costs the first biological threat I had encountered thus far on this planet, and it was something smaller than me. Great. So I dove back dow with the help of my dive reels…no, just _reel_ singular now. The hook placed by the blast zone itself was blasted apart by that kamikaze crap of a carp. There was literally nothing left of the creature itself too, completely vaporized in an instant, probably too fast to register pain, if it even felt that. I was glad I had that piece of metal, or that definitely would have killed me. So picking up the sheet of metal, I turned back to the crash zone. Then thinking about that choice of wording specifically…..

 _You know what? I'm calling that thing a Crash._

But the damage was beneficial. Turns out the blast was strong enough to clear away a hefty lot of stone, and it left a hefty hunk of copper exposed to the elements You would not understand how happy I was to find that.

" **Copper is an essential component for all powered equipment** ", Iris replied, stating the obvious, " **Your probability of survival has just increased to: unlikely, but plausible.** "

"Fuck off with the odds!" I growled, "I don't expect you to ever understand the concept of being an optimist, but the choice of wording isn't helping. You killed the good mood."

And with a level of snark I never expected from a machine, she replied, " **Would you rather have your own equipment lie to you in a life or death situation? Space travel and survival do not accept unrealistic optimism over data. The Aurora for example: case and point.** "

I was taken aback for a moment. That sounded disturbingly human to say the least…..but why did it sound so familiar?

"Can you at least tell me something positive that relates to the now?" I sighed and asked when I got to the surface.

" **You have successfully obtained enough materials to craft a Scanner** ", she replied, " **It is recommended that you return to the fabricator to begin construction.** "

"Thank you", I said rolling my eyes to return to the pod with the materials, as well as that metal 'shield' strapped to my back. I was definitely going to modify that baby later. At first I was a little unsure of how to operate the fabricator, so I started by placing a single quartz crystal on the unfolded table, and with a press of a button, a pair of lasers from the nobs on top dematerialized the matter available, seeming to store it somewhere else. I put the remaining materials into the system the same way and selected a blueprint for a scanner. The same lasers that removed the materials gradually put them back from the bottom up as a device that looked like camcorder mixed with a stage spotlight. I waited for a full 5 seconds to ensure that it was actually finished and quickly pulled the device away. It was a little heavier than I was expecting, but the grip was absolutely perfect, and considering that my own suit and biological data was in the system too, that might not have been coincidental. And of course, it was waterproof.

"I'm gonna go test it", I told Iris as I placed the broken reel on the table to deconstruct it. I'd use the scraps with new materials to repair it later. But for now, I still had one reel left in stock, and I used that one to go right back down to the bottom in that cave to examine that plant and pull the scanner's trigger. A full five seconds of flashing lights and just like that the plant was in the database, and per my own input, I called it a 'crash pod'. Apparently, the fish and this plant were symbiotic, like a clownfish and an anemone back on earth, but its seems the defensive systems were much more extreme here. Perhaps more dangerous predators were present.

" **New blueprint acquired** ", an alert appeared on my optical HUD, " **Large quantities of sulfur detected _._** " Apparently Iris linked the display with my tools as well, and the sulfur might have explained what caused that fish to explode like that.

"Brimstone?" I said, reaching into the plant to scoop up a yellow powder in my hand, "What kind of applications can this have?"

" **The first relevant application that requires attention is a repair tool blueprint** ", Iris would reply, " **However, I would advise constructing at least one oxygen tank before embarking on a search for other materials. Glass and titanium are required.** "

Well, that was soon to be two tools down, and the process of getting them nearly left me blown to smithereens. And yet I'm the only one who's still in one piece.

Just my luck.

(Six hours earlier) (The far side of the Aurora)

As the Aurora settled into the sand and the frightened creatures scattered, the air was filled only by the sounds of crashing waves and the fires and explosions aboard the ruined ship. But there was a thick metal cable that had attached firmly to the side of the hull. The other end was buried in the sand. For a long while, the sand's surface buckled as something under the surface attempted to dig itself free. Until a curious sandshark decided to investigate. It sped towards its meal and dove beneath the sand to hunt it down, only to crash into a hardened glass case and a waiting reopulsion cannon.

 ** _KA-BLOOM!_**

With a thunderous blast, the sand shark was sent hurtling into the currents, clearing away a hefty load of sand. Just enough to let the buried Prawn suit raise itself with the extended grapple hook and a jetpack, the standard equipment loadout of a hull worker. The Prawn was acting on its own as the A.I., Cane, freed itself and its occupant. Said pilot was unconscious, the inside of the helmet was bloodstained from a prior impact. But even in the woman's slumber, her mind was racing with thoughts, but not exactly her own.

 _"Who...are...you...?"_

 _(_ End of Chapter 3)

* * *

*Bursts out of a shallow grave, short on breath*

Hey everybody! Beowulf here!

Sorry I couldn't post sooner, and I know that my last post promised a chapter of WOR. Don't worry, it's almost done. Mental note, I'll probobly be bumping that story up to an M rating since RWBY's not the innocent show we thought it was anymore.

So Nero has finally gotten his first taste of Planet 4546B. I'd say he'll be fine till he has a Reaper spawn right in his face *brief Vietnam flashback*.

Not really much else to say now, but I'll be on top of my stories a bit more often really soon, so in the meantime, if you liked this, BLAST THAT LIKE BUTTON TO OBLIVION AND BEYOND!

Until next time!


	4. Ch 4: They Listen by the Creepvine

Chapter 4: They Listen by the Creepvine

* * *

It was black again, but this time around I was surrounded by the cosmic mix of the stars. I was floating freely in the vacuum of space, seemingly inside a pressurized suit. 'Below' me was the hull of the Aurora, undamaged and pristine as though it was fresh from the shipyard. We were too far away from any star to have any outstanding sunlight, but it was perfectly far away for the ship to be illuminated by that gorgeous glowing cosmic soup that was our galaxy. I was orbiting around the hull, thanks to the selective graviton sphere locking on to me from the ship's core.

"You gonna keep floating there, Gil?" a familiar voice said on the radio. Below me on the outside of the hull, was Jane, piloting her Prawn. Chances are she didn't want to let go of the ship after the asteroid incident.

"As long as I feel like it", I replied without a care in the universe, "You should be asleep right now. I thought I was supposed to be the night owl of this crew."

"I couldn't sleep again. Another nightmare", she groaned, probably nursing a headache.

"Just go back to sleep", I replied, "Funny thing about nightmares, they're not scary when you face them a second time, if you ever do. It's a little something my father always used to say."

"Easy for him to say", she sighed, "Nothing scares him."

"You'd be wrong", I said, followed by a rather long pause, "Every time he finds himself stranded on some alien world, he's scared out of his mind on the inside. Every time he always says that he doesn't know what the hell to expect. Every trip puts mankind back on the bottom of the food chain again because we're always clinging to what's familiar. Deep down, humans are still scared by the dark and the unknown. We always will be."

"And all of that is supposed to calm my nightmares how?" she asked, no down with a smile.

"Well, nightmares are just another unknown for us to conquer, right?" I said looking to her over my shoulder, only to see that both she and the Aurora were gone. Instantly I panicked, not remembering this at all. And in those last few moments, I felt a deep rumble from somewhere, and caught a brief glimpse of four sea green orbs in the distance amongst the stars. Those eyes again.

So much for my advice.

.

(Lifepod, Day 2, 4:00 PM)

Turns out that rumbling wasn't some external force, but rather a very much internal one. It was my stomach growling and that was what woke me up so early from another nightmare. Once I realized I could move again, I bolted upright and opened the hatch to dunk my head into the water and snap me out of it. Beats the hell out of coffee any day. My sheer shock of the wakeup call was the only thing keeping me from mourning a certain someone.

 **"Good morning, Nero",** a familiar voice chirped, not quite as monotone anymore, **"Your heartrate is elevated. Adding neurological data to log."**

"Good to see you too", I groaned, realizing that everything that transpired wasn't a dream. I was still on 4546-B, undergoing precisely what was being discussed in my dream. I still felt drained from that eventful day before.

By the end of the previous cycle, I had constructed an oxygen tank, and found the final ingredient to my repair tool: salt. Exactly why I needed that in the mix was unknown to me, and I still wasn't quite sure how I managed to even find so much in a crystal state, but I wasn't complaining. I had spent my last moments using the tool to piece together the main circuit board and the communications relay, and had fallen asleep directly after finishing.

 ** _Grrrrooooaaan._**

Unfortunately, the item at the top of my list should have been obvious: food and filtered water. So my first item on the docket was find edible plant life before I tried hunting down fish. Essentially just scan everything. My loadout of equipment this time was a scanner, a single dive reel, and my metal salvage "shield" from yesterday. I'd taken some time to clean it up after that run-in with a crashfish, and now it had a rather satisfying shine on it. Once I had taken a moment to think of anything else to bring, I dove down into the reef.

To my surprise, the reef wasn't nearly as dark at this early in the morning. Almost all of the fish and most plants were actual bioluminescent, meaning that they glowed in the dark. Not much of a defensive mechanism. Hell, it made spotting the creatures even easier. But I took just a moment to admire the spectacular display of colors that again, you couldn't see in earth's reefs at night. So with a surprisingly adequate amount of light to go by, I set off to the first familiar plant I saw.

Well, "plant" wasn't the right word. It was a fungus. A mushroom even! I found it odd that it could evolve to something so similar to earth's fungi, but I wasn't complaining. But I knew that many of earth's mushrooms were deathly poisonous, or even hallucinogenic, so obviously I scanned it first.

"So, is it on the menu?" I asked my AI and the data appeared on my hud.

" **Strongly discouraged** ", she replied, and a name, 'acid mushrooms', appeared on top. It appeared that science and dark sense of drug humor were aligned. But it seemed that while safe to touch, these mushrooms on the inside were incredibly acidic, pH of 1.7 I might add. To put it in perspective, that was stronger than stomach acid, so while I might end up eating it, it would eat _me_ up from the inside out.

However, I saw that blueprints for battaries had just been added. So apparently the insides of these things could be used to construct working battery acid! Sure that meant I wasn't going to eat them, but that was just as big of a plus!

Speaking of eating, it made me wonder what on earth could have made these things evolve to such an extreme. What sort of predator…..

Well, I didn't have to wonder for very long to know. As I got in closer to look, I bumped my head into a soft leathery form and found myself looking directly into a pair of beady eyes. I scrambled back as the form let out a sound that resembled gargling mixed with a cow's moo. A form that looked something like a manatee with a bulbous glowing tail crossed into the light of the mushroom's glow and it gradually began to suck up the tinier fungi with its snout.

I sighed with relief as I saw it was clearly herbivorous. Finally! A large creature that was passive at least! There was actually a herd of them, like seven others hanging close by, grazing on small plants and the smaller mushrooms. They really were sea cows. But just to be safe…

I scanned these too, and low and behold, they weren't quite so harmless. Turns out that acid they eat in the mushrooms is turned into an even stronger acid by bacteria in the tail. A pH of 1 to 0.6! That would melt through my shield like xenomorph blood! To make matters worse, they spray the stuff everywhere when spooked, so a note to self: keep a distance and make no sudden movements. I also affectionately named these cows for caution Gassopods, and left them at that.

Next candidate: what looked like a stingray with tiny buck teeth, a very colorful and quick creature to be sure, but the sight of it too feeding on the acid mushrooms, biting whole chunks out of larger ones, gave me the sense that this one was very similar, and the scanner certainly agreed. The newly named "rabbit rays" played true to both parts of its name, skiddish and harmless, but poisonous and henceforth inedible. But at least that thing seemed friendly.

After an extended period, I had scouted and scoped every plant and even the coral in this reef, but there was nothing to eat. So my last resort was the fish. I'll be honest, I really didn't want to kill these, I was even squeamish from killing fish we caught back home. Plus, they looked so damn cool at night, but I was desperate. First scan: something that Iris designated as a bladderfish, and based on the appearance, I found that rather appropriate. It was edible, but with little meat, so moving on for now. The next one was a creature with a long tail and a strange pair of eyes. Still, those eyes seemed reminiscent of an old cartoon character from several centuries ago. Very reminiscent.

"Let's call that one a garyfish", I said, happy to see that this one was edible. I almost fired my reel to snag it, but a yellow glowing blur zipped past my face, easily the fastest fish I'd seen so far. Those big eyes and muscular form was screaming dinner time, and according to the brief scan, it was the best option. The "peeper" was my target.

This one did seem to be the most cautious and aware (and with eyes like those, how could you not be aware?) so I tried to stay behind the rocks and behind my shield to catch it by surprise. But it was much harder without a pair of flippers. And the way it chirped just sounded like laughter at some point. I chased it for what seemed like an eternity until it eventually led me to what looked like a kelp forest. Not quite as many glowing fish here, but the light was coming from a massive clump of yellow seeds at the bottom of the leaf spreadings. The water here was much deeper, about 30-70 meters, and it seemed to be a new biome altogether.

And quick scan of these plants revealed that these plants were actually edible raw in small quantities, so I wasted no time in tearing off a leaf, opening up my helmet, and taking several bites. It tasted exactly like earth's seaweed, if not a little saltier, which was to say it tasted very good indeed. Though it seemed that these tough vines and even the seed pods themselves had properties that could be used in construction. Perfect!

Almost made me glad that peeper had taunted me like that, but it wasn't enough to make me change my mind in catching it. So, I reached out to aim my dive reel at the fish from inside of the leaves. It was just outside of arm's reach now, but I instantly regretted ever showing myself. Right before I could ever pull the trigger, a loud hiss filled the air and a long reptilian from shot out of the darkness to snatch up the fish in a dreadful crocodilian smile.

And just like that, I regretted ever coming out here in the dead of night.

I ducked back in and even though my glimpse of the creature lasted a mere split second, the image of the full creature was perfectly burned into my head, every detail in the light of those glowing seeds on the vine. A crocodile's snout and teeth, and the body like a shark or eel, complete with beady eyes. And nearly 7 feet long. But even as it passed, those eyes followed me.

It could see me.

How many more of those creatures were there? How close was I to the safer shallows? Why did it pass me up despite knowing I was there? My mind raced for answers as my first long lasting threat (cause let's be honest, those Crash fish lasted mere moments) revealed itself. What did I know about them now, without a proper scan?

They ate peepers. They appear to be able to see in the dark much better than any human or peeper could. But there was one feature, similar to a preexisting species, that I figure might carry over here, something I could exploit if it ever came to such a situation. And with that in mind I Carefully tugged away a short but thick split of this vine, yes that's what I chose to call it.

First step to getting away: get out of deep waters. Less light from the seeds, the better. Though I did pick a batch of those seeds to put in my bag before I slowly swam up through the increasingly dense leaves until I had reached the surface. My small reserve tanks refilled themselves, and for just a second I thought I had escaped their immediate reach.

I was wrong. Evidently a single creature had spotted me on the way up, and the instant I ducked back down, I was greeted by an open maw that was illuminated only by the light of this planet's moon.

"Fuck!" I screamed and placed my scrap shield between us. The creature's mouth opened wide enough to lock it's needlelike teeth around the corners of the metal and it took an extra tight hold, shaking it around and hissing all the while. It was driven I'll give it that, but I noticed something in the way it attacked now verses the way it did before. Back when it killed that fish its eyes briefly rolled back, like a shark on earth, but here, I could see its eyes locked on target, but not necessarily on food.

Was it just the metal it wanted?

Well, I certainly didn't want to give up my second most valuable tool here, and the moment I thought of that was the moment my good luck kicked in one more time. Amidst the lights of the seeds I saw a single peeper glowing in the darkness and with a litteral shot in the dark, my dive reel snagged it and brought it back in. But as hungry as I still was, this one wasn't for me. So I reached out to the side and waved the fish around in my hand for the creature to see. An eye caught the fish and its instincts clearly screamed out FOOD. And it let go briefly to snatch up its snack.

I pulled my hand away to leave the fish, but the moment it snapped its jaws shut, they didn't open again. My hands reachedright around its snout and clamped tight enough to keep it closed while I held its body with my legs. It was just like a crocodile. It's muscles were designed for biting instead of a focus on opening. And just like it's unrelated counterparts on earth, they were weak enough to keep closed with nothing but your bare hands! My other hand grabbed the severed vine and tied it tight around the creature's snout, keeping it closed while it desperately tried to finish off its meal and free itself at once. With that being said, I held on tight as it thrashed around and used a free hand to properly scan it.

With a muffled roar, it finally bucked me off and darted back into the vine clusters below and I didn't see it again that morning. I had gotten away with all my tools, a scan, the seeds, and even a large tooth that had fallen into my hand while I tied it up. And silently I celebrated, even though the only meal I had been left with in the end was a seaweed salad.

I viewed the scans on my HUD as I quietly swam home and the sun just started to climb into the morning sky. Turns out I was right. Those creatures were after the metal and not me. Seems that they had a knack and habit for collecting shiny things, but they loved peepers even more. But something else caught my attention more than that. See when I pulled these up, Iris labeled these as _previously catalogued_ entries: stalkers and creepvines.

Someone had actually scanned these creatures first and stored them on the Altera's shared network! My first assumption was that someone survived the crash, but the date that one of these entries was logged was listed as 8 years ago…

"Iris….has Altera been to this planet before?" I asked when I had finally returned to the pod. And my question was followed by a very long pause and….

" **Data restricted to lower crew.** "

Not even close to anything I was expecting. Why the fuck was this restricted?! It might as well have been a yes at this point, but why reserve this information to the higher crew members…..

Like Jane.

I remembered that before the ship began to crash, Jane told me that she had to come clean about why they were really coming by this planet. Something about this entire flyby left her a trembling mess. She knew the details, no question. And looking at the ship, I saw that the officer's deck near the top of the ship itself was nearly untouched by the crash itself. If I could find their PDA's and gain access to the logs, I could find he details and maybe even details of what stranded us in the first place.

"Fine. Then I'll find the higher crew", I said rushing to the fabricator to process the raw materials I found.

" **Strongly unadvised** ", Iris replied before saying, " **Continued degradation of the Aurora's drive core poses a rising possibility of a quantum detonation. I will continue to monitor**."

"If I do nothing, I'll never know what happened, and we won't be able to finishe whatever job we had here!" I barked at her in reply, "If you want to ensure the survival of this crew and any future crew, you will help me with this!"

There was a pause.

" **Very well. Your assessment appears logical and potentially beneficial. I will continue to monitor."**

"Glad to see you understand", I sighed, "If there's radiation, I'll need a suit. Is the blueprint for that still in your database?"

" **Affirmative.** **Lead and creepvine strands for fiber mesh are required.** "

"Good", I then placed my shield on the table, "Now I need you to remove the dents, craft a set of grips, and sharpen the edge of the bottom."

" **If you plan to go exploring",** she said spitting out a pair of flippers which I immediately put on, " **I just pieced together a message, received when the relay was still down. Lifepod 3's automatic log listed survivors but a damaged seaglide.** "

That caught my attention. And after a brief silence, I dove out of the pod and in the direction indicated on my HUD. To quote my father and a whack-job show from the 21st century that he loved to watch, "Always answer a distress call. 9 out of 10 times it means the crew is dead and you get free materials", as dark as that sounds. But if there was still someone, it meant a helping hand. The other 1 out of 10 involved it being a trap of any sort, but I was willing to roll those dice.

But as I came closer, my hopes were dashed again as I saw it leading into yet another creepvine forest. The entire reef seemed to be surrounded in the stuff. Closer to the bottom was a sunken lifepod. I looked around and set my suit to let out a loud sonar beep through the water, a beacon that any surviving crew members would be able to trace….but no one came. But there was a responding beacon from down in the pod.

"Nero's log", I said into my helmet, because why not document my findings or broadcast it to the survivors, "Approaching Lifepod 3 in response to automatic distress call, creepvine forrest south of my landing site in the safe shallows. No human life signs detected. I advise caution as this entire forest is swarming with stalkers and a bunch of tiny little creatures that look like leeches. Coordinates attached."

Oh, did I forget to mention those little leech things? I saw one of them latch onto a fish last night and suck it dry of blood in mere seconds. No scan necessary, I knew they were bad news.

The hatch was open, and only a PDA and a seaglide remained. I'd look at the logs from that, a quick scan showed that the seaglide's CPU was busted. I'd have to repair that. I think I remembered seeing computer chips and wiring kits in the blueprints on the fabricator. I might have to replace the entire electrical system just in case to conserve other resources.

"Lifepod 3 is empty. No sign of the crew, and I'm presuming that they were KIA", I said to the log, "I'm returning to…."

 _GROOAAAAAAN!_

For once, that one wasn't my stomach.

"Scratch that", I said into the log as I popped out of the pod to look to the east towards the ship…and into an open void. There was a sudden drop off. So, I activated my ping one more time. The sound resonated through the water and then came back as an echo. So if sound traveled twice as fast underwater and given the time taken, that meant…..90 meters at the minimum. An entire football field's length or more separated me from the ocean floor down there.

I think I had cheated death enough before the sun had risen.

"Log and broadcast. If anyone can hear this, I'm returning to the shallows. Marking the position of Lifepod 5 now. Please be safe out there." I said, then cutting away some creepvine for another snack and for further tool crafting before I swam back to the pod with my morning's haul. I'd get back to my little mission as soon as the sun was up.

But it occurred to me….so much of the surrounding area was deep just like this. The pods couldn't have landed far from the ship itself, so…..how many of them had landed out there, out of the shallows?

And what were the odds of my pod and mine alone somehow managing to land right there in the only (relatively) safe zone around? Equally unlikely.

But hey, that's just my luck. Right?

(End of Chapter 4)

* * *

Luck or plot armor indeed. But hey, if anyone else was surviving the planet, wouldn't we be seeing them instead?

Greetings earthlings! Beowulf back not but maybe two hours after ending the longest hiatus I've ever had in WOR. Looks to me like he's still being watched, and a little someone seems to finally be catching on to what's really going on down on 4546-B. I would say best of luck but we all know what he'd say back.

Anyways, thank you all so much for joining in, and if you like what you see, leave a review and TOSS A CRASHFISH INTO THAT LIKE BUTTON! (Extra special thanks to TheDunkBro for giving me that outro in his review btw).

Until next time. Signing off. Now if you can excuse me, I got reapers to hunt.

*SPLASH*


End file.
